If you're anything like us, Miley Cyrus was, quite literally, the icon of your youth: from cementing the phrase "sweet niblets" into our brains as a double-life pop star on Hannah Montana, to every single banger she's had us dancing along to for the past decade. And lucky for us, she's kicking off a brand new era with her sixth studio album, Younger Now.

In celebration of her new music and a brand new season of The Voice, we sat down with the animal lover as she played with some seriously adorable rescue pups while answering your burning questions — and it'll make you fall even more in love with Miley than you already were. Here's what went down.

MC: As good as it feels holding my little angel. It felt so good because it had a purpose, when there was the tragedy in Vegas it was so amazing to be able to sing that song and be able to make it current for what everyone needed to hear: that there’s always gonna be another mountain, another struggle, but it’s all about the climb.

Do you have any advice for young women who feel repressed when it comes to their identity?

MC: My advice would be, surround yourself with friends who think like you, but also make sure you expose yourself to different types of people but keep people around you that always lift you up and support you.

MC: Never Google yourself. I read one time that if you trust and love your decisions, the less that you care what other people think about them. So be happy with your decisions.

Are the songs from Younger Now put in a specific order to tell a story?

MC: Everything on the record has a reason. In "Younger Now" the song, there's the sound of the river that's at my house. And then "Malibu," that's where my house is, and then "Rainbowland" is a studio at my house. So it’s kind of like introducing people to where I made the record and [how I] was inspired by where I am, and inspired by Rainbowland.